Screenhead

Continuing in our look back on the last decade, Screenhead examines the major movie events of the year 2002. For previous years, click on the years to visit the article: 2000, 2001.

Let’s Get Digital

Digital cinema had been around for quite a while throughout the 90’s, but it was this decade that saw it start to challenge traditional methods of film-making. While most major and indie films were shot on celluloid film roles (normally 35mm or 16mm), digital cameras managed to cut the cost of film processing and thus make things cheaper and easier. Initially digital cameras recorded onto tapes, and eventually electronic data could be stored directly onto hard-drives, making it ready for instant playback and editing. Adopting digital film-making was a very slow process, mostly because early cameras couldn’t challenge the amount of information captured on traditional film, and also because digital cameras react to low-light in different ways to the “grain” of film stock. 2002 saw that perception change with the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the first major Hollywood film to be shot entirely in digital (on Sony’s HDW-F900), and most people couldn’t tell the difference. This year also saw the release of Russian Ark, also shot entirely on the same camera and consisting of a single 90-minute take as a man explores a mansion that represents the history of Russia. Many Hollywood films still use 35mm, but digital formats are being championed by some, such as director Michael Mann who has shot his last two films using digital cameras.

But digital cinematography prompted a veritable revolution for independent film-makers, who could now use cheaper technologies to produce high-quality material worthy of a cinema. MiniDV cameras were the first models to be used, and 2002 also saw the release of innovative horror film (which pretty much changed the way zombies moved) 28 Days Later, which was shot on a Canon XL1S (costing about $8000 at the time) camera. MiniDV was dropped for HDV, and now the superior format HDCAM is the norm for TV and low-budget film-making, utilizing storage cards instead of tapes. Of course, the only problem was that the constant updating and upgrading of formats means that many low-budget films shot early in the decade now look dated. But the upshot is that these affordable technologies provide people with a chance (however slim) to rival major movie studios.

But it wasn’t just in capturing images that changed dramatically this decade, it was also the way images were viewed and projected. For cinemas movie studios realised that one of the highest costs in the industry was the production of thousands of prints of a movie. Digital projection was the perfect solution, with projectors playing encrypted files, first from DVD ROMS, then hard-drives, and finally Digital Cinema Packages that were encrypted to prevent piracy. Attack of the Clones was the first secure encrypted film to be shown in cinemas, and from 2005 onwards the system was standardised. And for people at home in 2002 five of Hollywood’s major studios established Movielink with Blockbuster, enabling people to download films at their choice for a minimal fee. The idea of movies-on-demand was to beat piracy by offering instant access at affordable prices, although it hardly won that war.

My Big Fat Greek Box Office Intake

Every few years an independent film comes along and blows up the box office, rejuvenating faith in independent cinema and ensuring it remains alive. But no one saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding coming. Originally a solo play devised by actress and comedian Nia Vardalos, Tom Hanks and his producer wife Rita Wilson were so impressed that they managed to almost single-handedly secure the small amount of funding required to make this small comedy about a Greek woman who falls in love with a non-Greek and has to get her family to accept him. This unassuming film went on to make over $350 million worldwide, and actually remains the highest grossing rom-com in the US, surpassing all the studio-made high-budget films with their millions in marketing. This style of gentle romance infused with comedy of embarrassment and a dash of slapstick may be the very reason we still get a slate of similar (but less successful) female-oriented films such as What Happened in Vegas or No Reservations. Sadly, Nia Vardalos’s career never took off, with the TV spin-off series My Big Fat Greek Life getting cancelled after 7 episodes, and this year’s I Hate Valentine’s Day getting lost in the summer schedule.

Bowling for Columbine and Pop-Docs

Up until 2002, documentaries had mostly been art-house releases, their home usually on TV sets. But all that changed with the release of Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine. Moore was known before that for the documentary Roger and Me, as well as the TV shows Awful Truth and TV Nation, all of which combined real and difficult issues with Moore’s sense of humour and stunt-making. Columbine starts as a documentary about gun laws in relation to the Columbine murders in 1999, but expands to become an enquiry into the role of violence in American society, from TV to celebrity to the government itself. It was a huge success, becoming the highest earning documentary at the time.

The appeal of Bowling for Columbine was due to its use of humour to confront serious issues, making it more accessible. There were, however, criticisms of the doc- Moore has been accused of bending the truth in order to make his point (Matt Stone of South Park fame, who appeared in the doc, was peeved that his appearance made many assume the animated segment describing the US’s history of fear was made by him, when it was not), as well as using his method of ambushing unaware interviewees and using their surprise as a negative characteristic. Moore is also openly biased about his angles, prompting many to call his documentaries docuganda, as can be seen in his uneven but hugely popular assault on the Bush Jnr administration, Fahrenheit 9/11. The film is the highest-grossing worldwide documentary of all time.

Documentaries in this populist style have continued to be made, such as Super Size Me, Enron and Religulous, and are certainly making more of an impact than those pre-Columbine documentaries, although current trends seem to suggest that audiences are growing weary of this sub-genre.

Shaky-cam is Bourne

Although the employment of a shoulder-mounted camera to create tension had been used extensively in TV shows such as ER and NYPD Blue, it was Saving Private Ryan’s opening sequence that proved that the method could be used for other films genres. 2002 saw the release of The Bourne Identity, an adaptation of the popular Robert Ludlum novel in which an amnesiac discovers he is a CIA assassin. The film was a huge success, making hundreds of millions worldwide. Director of Identity Doug Liman was so used to independent film-making that he insisted on operating the camera himself, and often shot with the camera mounted on his shoulder. This produced the shaky-cam effect, with added a sense of urgency and realism to the action movie, injecting it with a sense of excitement. Despite the film’s success, Liman (who spent a lot of the film resisting the studio’s input and creating friction) was replaced by Paul Greengrass for the sequels, who utilised the shaky cam effect even more. Since then action and shaky-cam have gone hand-in hand, racking up the tension in films like Taken and District 9.

We Said Goodbye to: Billy Wilder

You don’t get many directors like the great Billy Wilder. Wilder was a director who wanted to tackle any genre, even when he was a master of comedy. He directed some of Hollywood’s greatest films, even though he never lost his Austrian accent. And even though most remember his films through a great lead performance, he is considered one of cinema’s best directors.

Wilder fled Europe during the rise of the Nazi party, and established a bond with Ernst Lubitsch, grandfather of the rom-com. Despite being a witty man, he made his break with the war film Five Graves to Cairo, and received much acclaim with the quintessential film noir Double Indemnity. The Last Weekend was a powerful drama about addiction, and Sunset Boulevard is a classic thriller (and a satire about Hollywood that still rings true). But he was also responsible for the touching romance Sabrina, the heart-warming comedy The Apartment, and the courtroom drama Witness for the Prosecution. And all are prime, if not the peak, examples of their genre.

Wilder often said that “the best director is the one that you don’t see”, and so many of his great films feel like they’re dependent on great performances. He was known to have a wonderful rapport with actors, and remained friends with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau for the rest of his life. He also was responsible for making Marilyn Monroe the icon that she is today, giving her two famous roles: the dumb blonde in both Some like it Hot and The Seven Year Itch.

Wilder’s last film is the entertaining comedy Buddy Buddy, but he worked with Spielberg on the story for Schlinder’s List and even considered directing it himself but (depending on your source) felt too old to go through with it. He died of pneumonia, a year after his good friend Jack Lemmon, and their remains stand together in LA. For a glimpse of the passion that beams from Wilder, it’s worth checking out the archive interview on Criterion’s DVD of the deeply underrated Ace in the Hole.

Films of the Year

City of God
Talk to Her
28 Days Later
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
24 Hour Party People

By Eoin O’Faolain

Future Years: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Anything you think we’ve missed? Anything you disagree with? Let us know on the comments below!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Incoming search terms for the article:

• movies made in 2002-2003